jct3602 Posted April 28, 2015 Report Posted April 28, 2015 Background - came upon a blade which had been virtually snapped in two; you could see light through the crack at the shinogi. Had a friend do an o-suriage on the front half and a satsuma-age on the lower. Original length was about 67cm; the resultant blades are 26.5 cm for the suriage and 22.5 cm for the satsuma-age. Would like any ideas about the hamon. The pictures is the base of one side of the the o-suriage. The last two are the base of both sidse of the satsuma-age. the two sides have different hamons, and appear to have different boshi also. These were all taken with cellphone, so obviously not good quality pictures. Have plenty more shots, including the tip portion and configuration of the Satsuma-age (very interesting). The lower half of the original blade is showing midare utsuri on the left side with edge down, may be able to make it out in picture 2, but still faint and always hard to photo. Original - sakihaba 1.75 cm; motohaba 2.80 cm, was mumei when I came upon it. Probably previously shortened; had a high koshi sori which allowed the Satsuma-age to taper into some large hardened formations, thus giving it the necessary tempered tip. I think originally that the high koshi sori was torii sori before the earlier suriage, but who knows. Still can not say much about the hada and jigane; looks like mokume or small itame, but I would not bet my money taking a guess of any kind. Hope someone finds this interesting, john Quote
Ken-Hawaii Posted April 28, 2015 Report Posted April 28, 2015 What, exactly, are you asking, John, if anything. Help with the hamon, as the title says? It's a wild midare, from what I can see. Not really unusual to have a somewhat different hamon on either side. Ken Quote
jct3602 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Report Posted April 28, 2015 Ken, thanks for the reply - just wondering if anyone had an opinion on school, etc. My personal is early Shinto Bizen style or Sue-Koto Bizen. I do know lots of schools have gasaku works with dissimilar hamon and/or boshi. Always appreciate any suggestions - they all help research. john Quote
Ken-Hawaii Posted April 28, 2015 Report Posted April 28, 2015 I'd give it a shot, John, but really do need to see some detail in your photos. Phones don't really pick much in the way of nuances. I see a streak that might be utsuri, but could as well be light reflection. Utsuri would indicate Bizen, or maybe Soshu. Ken Quote
Brian Posted April 28, 2015 Report Posted April 28, 2015 I'm more interested in seeing pics of both parts overall. Sounds like a decent rescue job, and would be great to have an example here. Satsuma-age would make a decent topic on its own. Brian Quote
jct3602 Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Posted May 3, 2015 Brian, A picture of the Satsuma-age john Quote
jct3602 Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Posted May 3, 2015 Brian, A picture of the suriage portion john Quote
Brian Posted May 3, 2015 Report Posted May 3, 2015 Nicely done satsuma age. Maintains the integrity of the blade, while still looking elegant. Looks good. The other section also maintains its integrity, but looks awkward, confirming the previous discussions about being wary of shinogi zukuri tanto. Brian Quote
jct3602 Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Posted May 3, 2015 Hi Brian The upper portion of the blade was not altered; just ended up with the top 40% of a katana or a tachi after o-suriage. Was a shame that whoever unloaded the blade to the dealer I got it from broke it so badly; was around 65cm originally. As a salvage job, I commissioned the work but beyond that just occasional input when my opinion was requested on things like color of sageo, upgrades on fuchi and menuki, etc (really not much). My friend cut the blade down, did the lacquer work, made the habaki (made 7 habaki on one before he was happy with the result) and tsuka. The thunder god menuki were from his collection; the round gold mon menuki were from mine. The fuchi for the aikuchi were 3/4 from his collection; he made the lower piece in the mouth of the satsuma-age and the pommel cap. The elephant god mount on the sageo holder was also his. Obviously difficult work sculpting the satsuma-age since some of the metal to be removed was tempered; tapering the blade from the mune into large midare in the ha to get a tempered tip, and taking a little metal off the end of the ha to balance it was tough. He would do a portion, then something else would not look good enough, so the pieces went through round after round of upgrades (all to the better). Anyway, the lacquer work is excellent (he does restoration of writing boxes, etc. for a prominent museum on occasion) and also does professional work on tsuka; everything else very good. I have done a lot of uchiko work in the 3 months since I got them back, just to see some details, but they both need an appropriate polish at some point. Anyway, was about an 8 year project, starting with a blade that 2 dealers said to throw in the nearest trashcan, lol. john 1 Quote
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